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Boulder County cyclists participate in National Bike Challenge

By Carah Wertheimer

For the Camera

Posted:
05/08/2016 11:00:00 AM MDT

Updated:
05/09/2016 04:34:45 PM MDT

May 1 marked the start of the fifth National Bike Challenge, spearheaded by Boulder's PeopleForBikes — an industry-backed advocacy nonprofit — in partnership with consumer-products multinational Kimberly-Clark.

The free competition runs through September and aims to get people of all abilities to ride more. Last year, 93,000 riders nationwide pedaled 35 million miles. This year's goal is for 100,000 riders to pedal 75 million miles.

As of Friday, 526 Boulder County riders had signed up. The city of Boulder's fall and winter bike weeks averaged 935 riders each.

PeopleForBikes took the lead last year as the previous organizer, the League of American Bicyclists, focused elsewhere.

Using a newly-redesigned online platform, individuals and teams can track miles and compete at national, state and local levels.

Meghan McCloskey, challenge marketing coordinator at PeopleForBikes, said that prizes for transportation and recreation are awarded monthly and at the end of the competition.

Participating workplaces range from small and local — Pearl Izumi, Only Natural Pet, Polar Bottle and Sounds True — to national and multinational — Google, AT&T, Best Buy and IBM.

The event dates back to 2008 in Neenah, Wis., when Kimberly-Clark Process Engineer Rob Gusky and colleagues sought a workaround for $4-per-gallon gasoline.

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"We had a whiteboard at work and started keeping track of our rides. We were trying to save money in my department," Gusky said.

It was such fun that he shared their spreadsheet with cycling groups in other company locations.

A company-wide challenge was held in 2009. In 2011, Kimberly-Clark and the Wisconsin Bike Fed teamed up for a highly-successful four-month statewide challenge.

Gusky and the company's Health Services team wanted to maximize the health and wellness benefits they were seeing.

"We really wanted to make lasting changes for our employees. We found that a week or a month just wasn't enough. This multi-month challenge, it created real positive change in people's lifestyles," Gusky said.

"We did a lot of surveys and got a lot of good feedback from the participants," he added, such as requests to extend the challenge from four months to five.

Gusky's point structure — 20 points for the first mile of the day and one point per mile after that — incentivizes getting on a bike.

"Once people get into the program it can really transform their lives — people that thought they were sedentary, that didn't think they could do this. It resonated because of the approach we have," Gusky said.

"It's not insurmountable. Just bike around the block, see how that goes."

The approach has elite fans, too.

Megan Hottman, of Golden, a bicycle commuter, cycling attorney and former professional cyclist, said those 20 points can be the difference between biking and driving.

"There might just be a day when I don't feel like it. But y'know what, I'm going to get those points! I'm so competitive that way, it really works for me," she said.

"I think it's brilliant that they incentivize you for that first mile. Let's be honest, once you're rolling, you're gonna keep rolling. We've gotta just get you out the door."

"I think it's a great thing — because they're a national organization, to push this out to communities who don't have the resources to provide this sort of tracking information, it's very helpful," he said.

Kemp, however, thinks people tend to put more energy into shorter programs, such as the city's bike weeks.

"I would think that over time the participation rate begins to decline," he said.

"I could be wrong, too," noting that people respond differently, and incentives and variables such as prize structures can affect outcomes.

For local web designer Andy Stone, creator of the challenge website, having two "brands" — having both national and local campaigns — is a good thing for Boulder.

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